Celebrating with A Grateful Heart

"Like the proud mother who is thrilled to receive

a wilted bouquet of dandelions from her child,
so God celebrates our feeble expressions of gratitude."
~ Richard Foster
(Prayer: Finding Your Heart's True Home p. 85)

Thankful for 10 fingers and a new way to use them.

As my friend said, "So many people think they cannot memorize but anyone can say a phrase 10 times out loud."

Simple things done on a daily basis may lead to a great reward.

For me, it has been the memorizing of 1 Peter...all 104 verses. It has been an exercise of discipline and faith. Discipline to use my 10 fingers each day to go over yesterday's verse 10 times and then adding a new verse, saying it 10 times out loud.

As I followed Dr. Davis's simple and straightforward method I still needed faith to step out of my comfort zone and attempt something that I may fail at. I tried it. And when it got hard, I asked the Lord to show me how to get over a hurdle....and He did.

A creative idea leaps over the hurdle.

Dr. Davis explains that "memorization is partly visual." So, he encourages you to photograph the verse with your eyes as it looks on the page of your Bible.

The small print, long paragraphs, and stark white pages in my Bible overwhelmed me. How can I focus on one verse? My first hurdle.....I can't do this straight out of my Bible like Dr. Davis. Do I give up or go to prayer and a brainstorm?

"Father, the temptation to see a string of hurdles laid out for me on a track that I can't run is bombarding my mind. However, I know that your Word is the tool to fight against the enemies attacks. Show me how to do this....give me an idea that will work for me, while still putting into practice Dr. Davis' advice."

A stack of index cards didn't sound appealing but breaking the larger passages down was necessary to see the small steps. And, anything with beauty helps my eyes make a mental photograph.

With scrapbook paper and a larger print I made my own pages. The photograph I was able to take with my eyes included color, phrases put in smaller paragraphs, and only 12 verses on the page! Creative baby steps...a bit of beauty put in a plastic sheet that I could carry with me everywhere.
The reward of making it to 12 verses came when I could take it out of the plastic sheet and put it in my notebook....along with a picture (thank you Lidia) that really captured what those verses said and meant to me.

Of course, I wasn't finished saying those verses out loud on a daily basis. To help me stay focused when I was reciting them with each verse number said aloud, I made a bookmark. I was able to have my notebook closed and just put my finger on the verse number as I recited.

Each page that I made is unique. This helped me take that snap shot in my mind. The bookmarks with matching paper reminded me visually where I was.





P.S. Now that I'm done with 1 Peter (but still recite it once a week), I've begun Ephesians to follow the sermon series at church. Dr. Davis's practical method works and I'm retaining what I've memorized.